#TutuTuesday #10060
Hello, lovelies! It's your favourite tutu-obsessed time traveller, Emma, back again for another #TutuTuesday adventure! I'm popping in from my latest trip, a little jaunt to, oh, let's just say a time before tutus as we know them were born! Isn't it amazing to think how far ballet costumes have come? You know me, I love a good story and what's better than a tale about a little something so lovely and pretty? I just can't get enough!
But today, darling, I'm talking history, history with a whole heap of fashion sprinkled in, as is always the case, obviously. It’s so much more fun that way.
Time travel on a Train!
Just imagine the joy! I grabbed my tickets for the first ever proper passenger train. Can you believe it? Not a horsedrawn carriage but steam, a mighty iron beast thundering through the countryside, taking me on a journey from one amazing city to another! Just like that. Such luxury, wouldn't you agree?
This particular day, 15 October 1829, was a glorious one for travel. So glamorous! So chic! There wasn’t a tutu in sight, sadly. The costumes, oh they were rather plain in those days. Think big frilly white skirts, sometimes layers of them, nothing too tight. The colours were pale, whites, creams and, when we're feeling really daring, maybe some powder blues, lilac and pinks, all the delicate, girly colours. Think a Victorian wedding but for a dance!
Oh, the shoes were a delight. Point shoes were just beginning to pop up, little beauties in beige or pale pinks with ribbons galore. Just imagine having to do your own ribbons!
Speaking of shoes... I simply must make a dash to my local shop and find myself a pair of satin dance pumps, and, well, who am I kidding, they must be pink, of course. Pink always goes with everything!
But, enough of my adventures in shopping, the train has brought me to an amazing theatrical place - Covent Garden, in London. I can practically hear the music! Yes, it was bustling, and I'm already feeling that wonderful pre-performance excitement - such a lovely atmosphere!
Covent Garden wasn’t just the first building dedicated to ballet, darling, but a theatre to entertain a whole range of audiences, including Shakespeare’s work, of course! There’s even a Royal Ballet show starting on this date! I have a ticket to see La Sylphide! How absolutely dreamy is that?! It’s almost enough to make me wish I was born a few decades earlier just to see what a proper ballet from the era looked like, with those big, flowing skirts! Maybe one day I’ll do a Time Travel Thursday post and tell you all about the ballet clothes that people were wearing - that is, of course, if my bank account can handle it!
A Trip to the Past... With a Tutu twist
Time to pop on my tutu now, and we are about to get really glamorous. Do you want to know the really exciting bit about my tutu?
You see, today, the famous Mary Taglioni took to the stage to perform as La Sylphide! It’s almost enough to make a ballet fan faint! She was, you know, really, really beautiful and her movements on stage are the talk of the town.
Do you know what she was wearing? This is exciting!
Not one, but two tutus!
Yes, dearie! A tulle petticoat underneath a beautifully draped silk skirt that moved around her with such lightness, as if it were a cloud, just a whisper of an outfit for this incredible woman! I must tell you about Mary! Her moves are just as delightful as her outfits, graceful, soft, almost ethereal...
You’re going to want to come back here on Tuesday to read all about La Sylphide - or if you are as tutu-loving and obsessed with history as I am - just google it, because it is worth seeing! You have to imagine how this outfit, these two tutus, revolutionized ballet! Everyone thought it was divine. People were practically swooning!
Just as much as people love to watch beautiful women perform ballet and move gracefully, so much are they fascinated by these two little layers of tulle and silk! Two layers are not quite enough for me to give this outfit my totally approved award, it simply can’t be awarded without my special pink colour! But I think we're on to something! Who needs more than two layers, really? The sheer and airy fabrics move and float in such an exquisite way. We need to learn from these earlier ballerinas, and from now on my aim in life is for everyone, yes everyone to own a pink tutu! That is what’s going to make the world go round. Let's talk tutu revolution, because that's what we are doing! This tutu, even without being a bold pink colour is, darling, is the first little whisper of pink tutu greatness about to take over the world!
It seems that with this double layer of gorgeousness, Mary is making her own statement. She's saying "This is the future, we are moving towards something more beautiful!"
Of course, more beautiful doesn’t always mean more layers! We know, with the future coming, tutus are getting less layers and shorter skirts! You're going to have to trust me on this one!
But what about my pink! That’s my obsession. You should know that in my time (oh you have no idea how far ahead in time I am) pink tutus are all the rage. We wear tutus to everything and everywhere: tea parties, school trips, at the cinema. And just imagine going to see the Queen at a garden party… you can’t be a true fashion queen without a proper tutu.
We might not yet have that fashion sensation in this time period - they were more used to those pale whites and creams, pinks, purples, pale greens, all beautifully draped, no fuss at all.
If Mary and the others saw how we’re going to be rocking these incredible outfits in the future they'd go weak at the knees. Imagine those amazing ladies prancing about with actual pink tutus! That, darling, is the future I see for everyone in my perfect world!
We are not done here darling! Stay tuned, because I am going to do a little trip around the modern world of fashion so that you, yes you, darling, can find yourself the most exquisite and best pink tutu for every single occasion! There are so many shops around here, London is the place for fabulousness, as always. There are boutiques selling all types of clothes you’ve only dreamt of.
From Victorian London to Pink Tutu heaven, come on board with me next time!
Emma xoxo
